Load and unload with ease - the loading dock turntable as a solution to small spaces

Your loading dock area is one of the busiest sections of your business. Almost all warehouses, supermarkets and retail stores receive and ship out almost everything through the dock area. Finding ways to improve the loading and unloading process can yield positive results, driving revenue through improved efficiency.?

But how exactly can a turntable help your operations?

Optimise space

Turntables, allow businesses to take advantage of an increased amount of usable space, be it for parking, storage, or additional retail space. As a tool for a practical solution to a small space, a key feature of installing a loading dock turntable is to optimise your loading and unloading capabilities. Your shipping and receiving areas are the connection between your operation and the world. Plus, designing a load and unload space with high efficiency is critical.

Due to the reduced turning space required for vehicle movements, you can eliminate unnecessary dead space in loading docks that are normally needed for multiple-point turns. By simplifying the path design, you can also eliminate the need for a complete flow-through traffic management system - saving you both time and money.

Safety and efficiency go hand-in-hand

With so many employees, assets, and trucks coming in and out of this area, safety is a high priority. Turntables put your mind at ease by eliminating blind spots for drivers and by simplifying the movement in restricted areas like loading docks. This vastly improves driver vision and drastically reduces the prospect of accidents.

Additionally, clearance zones can decrease to a minimum with a turntable, which often means the loading dock area can be reduced by half, giving you more room to work with. This eliminates lengthy time delays in loading and unloading, increasing #productivity.

Drive revenue by improving productivity

For businesses, the faster a shipment is processed out, the better. Since trucks are loaded last-in, first-out, a plan to quickly and efficiently load different products is vital. Every moment spent waiting on truck loading is lost time and #productivity for both the distribution center and the truck lines and drivers.?

A loading dock turntable also provides more usable space for items such as truck liftgates, forklift operations, and conveyors - if these are used in loading and unloading pallets in the dock area. We have done this for many clients, such as Coles Group, helping reduce incidents while creating a more efficient #workflow system.

Loading and unloading made easy?

Often, sorting incoming shipments may mean breaking down pallets and assigning them on the fly to storage positions. Sometimes, workers must enter a truck and break a pallet or retrieve items and hand-carry them out. With a turntable, you’ll be able to expedite loading and unloading.?

We offer an innovative approach to engineering so we can design a turntable that meets your specific requirements, helping you to reduce queuing while increasing #productivity and improving safety. In turn, heavy vehicles can reduce their fuel consumption due to the elimination of low-speed maneuvering with a turntable. A heavy-duty turntable means you also have the benefit of accepting larger trucks in your space, allowing you to expand your network and form valuable partnerships.

Reduce wait times and avoid delays

Warehouses and distribution centres deal with a lot of vehicle movement daily. These are often designed without dedicated places to stop, park, or even turn around, making it difficult to find a safe place to park while waiting to load or unload your truck, creating delays.

Time delays from queuing and slower loading and unloading processes result in less deliveries achieved and overtime costs adding up for staff. This can also inconvenience your supply chain and customers, causing more pressure on the company to increase the speed of productivity. A delayed driver has short-term consequences, like bottlenecking, and long-term consequences, like fees or a lost shipper-of-choice or preferred provider status.?

Time delays can be a thing of the past with a turntable and make the day-to-day running of your business a breeze. You’ll be able to reduce staffing requirements for traffic management within the loading dock area, meaning staff can be redeployed to other areas of the business.

Maintaining productivity

In any business, unforeseen circumstances can throw operations into chaos. One of the worst things to happen can be a? breakdown of machinery at the loading dock, which can have drastic effects. After all, it is the shipping and delivery heart of the warehouse. If equipment breaks down at the loading dock, you’re not only looking at lost #productivity from your staff, but delays can also impact the drivers who are trying to drop off or pick up supplies.?

Australian Turntable systems are made of the highest quality and require little maintenance. By choosing Australian Turntables, we provide you with a system that is tested to rigorous standards and provides a warranty as well as after-sales service and maintenance, should you need it. So you can have peace of mind that we’ll deliver you the highest in parts and service so you can keep your business operations running on time.?

With all the benefits of a loading dock turntable, you can create a high level of #productivity and an efficient loading and unloading process, yielding a high ROI while keeping your workers safe.?

If you would like any more information, feel free to get in touch, we’d love to work together and help you turn things around and see your business reap the benefits.?